Hydrocarbon dehydrogenation in the presence of oxygen, iodine and cobalt



United States Patent HYDROCARBON DEHYDROGENATION IN THE PRESENCE OF OXYGEN, IODINE AND COBALT Laimonis Bajars, Princeton, N.J., assignor to Petro-Tex Chemical Corporation, Houston, Tex., a corporation of Delaware No Drawing. Continuation-impart of application Ser. No. 242,077, Dec. 4, 1962. This application Mar. 11, 1965, Ser. No. 439,079

3 Claims. (Cl. 260-680) This application is a continuation-in-part of my copending application Ser. No. 242,077, filed Dec. 4, 1962, now US. Patent No. 3,207,809, which was a continuation-in-part of my application Ser. No. 72,327, filed Nov 29, 1960, entitled Dehydrogenation Process, now abandoned, which in turn was a continuation-in-part of my application Ser. No. 825,656, filed July 8, 1959, entitled, Dehydrogenation Process, now abandoned. Application Ser. No. 242,077 was also a continuation-inpart of my application Ser. No. 145,992, filed Oct. 18, 1961, entitled Dehydrogenation of Hydrocarbons, and my application Ser. No. 145,993, filed Oct. 18, 1961, entitled, Dehydrogenation Process, both now abandoned.

This invention relates to a process of dehydrogenating organic compounds and relates more particularly to the dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons with oxygen, iodine and a hereinafter defined catalyst.

Iodine has been disclosed for use in the dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons in US. Patent 2,890,253. Large quantities of iodine are required according to this patent as the iodine is used as a reactant in the process. According to this patent, normally one atom of iodine reacts with each atom of hydrogen from the hydrocarbon being dehydrogenated. For example, in the dehydrogenation of butane to butadiene, four atoms of iodine react with four atoms of hydrogen to convert butane to butadiene. The patent suggests that the amounts of iodine required in such a reaction may be reduced by adding oxygen to the process; however, the amount of oxygen used must be no greater than one mol of oxygen per atom of iodine present. According to the examples even when oxygen is used larged amounts of iodine are utilized, such as 1.3 mols of iodine per mol of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated. The molecular weight of iodine is 524 and this means that the dehydrogenation of butane with 1.3 mols of iodine, 330 pounds of iodine would be charged for each 58 pounds of butane. Because of the corrosive efiect of iodine and hydrogen iodide, such reactions have generally been conducted in quartz or in glass lined reactors.

I have now discovered a greatly improved process which has as one of the advantages increased yields of unsaturated hydrocarbon of 2 to 12 carbon atoms. Preferred feeds are hydrocarbons of 2 to 8 carbon atoms, such as from 4 to 6 carbon atoms. These results are obtained by dehydrogenating the hydrocarbons in vapor phase in admixture with critical ratios of oxygen and iodine at elevated temperatures when the partial pressure of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated is equivalent to no greater than 10 inches mercury at a total pressure of approximately inches of mercury absolute, or one atmosphere, and a particular catalyst is employed.

The invention is suitably carried out by reacting at a temperature of at least 400 C. the mixture of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated, iodine and oxygen, with the partial pressure of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated being no greater than about 10 inches mercury absolute, in contact with a cobalt catalyst. The catalysts are autoregenerative and therefore the process is continuous.

In a typical embodiment of the invention, butene-2 in 3,374,283 Patented Mar. 19, 1968 vapor phase is mixed with oxygen at a molar ratio of one mol of butene-2 to 0.85 mol of oxygen, iodine in the form of hydrogen iodide at a molar ratio of one mol of butene-2 to 0.017 mol of iodine and steam in a molar ratio of 16 mols of steam to one mol of butene-2, and is reacted in the presence of" cobalt oxide at a temperature of 700 C., at atmospheric pressure and a butene flow rate of 1 liquid v./v./hr. Under these reaction conditions a yield of butadiene-1,3 from butenes of 72 percent per pass is obtained at a conversion of 88 percent and selectivity of 82 percent. The hydrogen iodide by-product is readily separated from the butadiene-l,3 which is thereafter purified as by fractionation. Not only is the unexpectedly high selectivity and conversion of economic advantage for most efficient utilization of feed stock, as compared to prior art processes, but straightforward and efficient purification of the desired butadiene-1,3 is readily accomplished because of the high yield of butadiene-1,3 and the low concentration of impurities which have to be removed. In the present commercial processes, a series of prefractionation, extractive distillation and final fractionation steps are required to isolate butadiene from process streams in sufiicient high purity for commercial use because of the low conversion of butylenes, and the resulting large amounts of difiicult-to-separate impurities. An advantage of the process of this invention is that less tars and polymer are formed compared to suggested prior art processes.

The catalysts of this invention comprise cobalt. Cobalt and the compounds of cobalt, such as the salts and oxides, are elfective catalysts. Particularly effective are inorganic compounds such as the oxides, phosphates, and the halides, such as the iodides, bromides, chlorides and fluorides. Useful catalysts are such as cobalt iodide, cobalt nitrate, cobaltic oxide, cobaltous oxide, cobaltous chloride, cobaltous sulfate. Mixtures of the materials listed above in any combination of two or more are useful. Mixtures of salts, such as halides and oxides may be employed. Many of the salts, oxides and hydroxides of cobalt may change during the preparation of the catalyst, during heating in a reactor prior to use in the process of this invention, or are converted to another form under the described reaction conditions, but such materials still function as an effective compound in the defined process. For example, the nitrates, nitrites, carbonates, hydroxides, acetates, sulfites, sulfides, and the like, may or may not be converted to the corresponding oxide or iodide under the reaction conditions defined herein. Salts of cobalt which are stable or partially stable at the defined reaction temperatures are likewise effective under the conditions of the described reaction, as well as such compounds which are converted to another form in the reactor. At any rate, the catalyst are effective if the atoms of cobalt thereof are present in a catalytic amount in contact with the reaction gases. The cobalt oxides and mixtures thereof represent a useful class of materials, since they are inexpensive and are readily formed into pellets or deposited on carriers, and may be readily formed in situ from various salts and hydroxides.

It will be readily recognized by the man skilled in the art that efficient and economical operations under the described reaction conditions will be a factor in the selection of a particular catalyst material or combination of catalyst materials. In commercial operations the use of materials such as cobalt oxide may be employed in the form of pellets or as coatings on a carrier or support which may also be in pellet form if desired, as is well self well to the process of this invention. Of course, re-

actors lined with quartz or other inactive materials can be used if loaded with active materials of the nature described.

The total pressure on systems employing the process of this invention normally will be about or in excess of atmospheric pressure, although subatmospheric pressure can be used. Higher pressures, such as about 100 to. 200 p.s.i.g. may be used. However, the initial partial pressure of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated is an important and critical feature of the invention. The partial pressure of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated should be equivalent to below about inches mercury absolute, or /3 atmosphere, when the total pressure is one atmosphere to realize the advantages of this invention. Also.

because the initial partial pressure of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated is equivalent to less than about 10 inches of mercury at a total pressure of one atmosphere, the combined partial pressure of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated plus the dehydrogenated hydrocarbon will also be equivalent to less than about 10 inches of mercury. For example, if butene is being dehydrogenated to butadiene, at no time will the combined partial pressure of the butene and butadiene be greater than equivalent to about 10 inches of mercury at'a total pressure of one atmosphere. Preferably, the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated should be maintained at partial pressure equivalent to less than one-third the total pressure, such as no greater than six inches or no greater than four inches of mercury, at a total pressure of one atmosphere. The desired pressure is obtained and maintained by techniques including vacuum operations, or by using helium, organic compounds, nitrogen, steam, and the like, or by a combination of these methods. Steam is particularly advantageous and it is surprising that the desired reactions to produce high yields of product are effected in the presence of large amounts of steam. When steam is employed, the ratio of steam to hydrocarbon to. be dehydrogenated is normally within the range of about 4 to or mols of steam per mol of hydrocarbon, and generally will be between 8 and 15 mols of steam per mol of hydrocarbon. When air is employed as the source of oxygen, then less steam normally will be required. The degree of dilution of the reactants with steam, nitrogen, and the like, is re lated to keeping the partial pressure of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated in the system equivalent to preferably below, 10 inches of mercury at one atmosphere total pressure. For example, in a mixture of one mol of butene, three mols of steam and one mol of oxygen under a total pressure of one atmosphere, the butene would have an absolute pressure of one-fifth of the total pressure, or

roughly six inches of mercury absolute pressure. Equivalent to this six inches of mercury butene absolute pressure at atmospheric pressure would be butene mixed with oxygen and iodine under a vacuum such that the partial pressure of the butene is six inches of mercury absolute. A combination of a diluent such as steam together with a vacuum may be utilized to achieve the desired partial pressure of the hydrocarbon. For the purpose of this invention, also equivalent to the six inches of mercury buteneabsolute pressure at atmospheric pressure would be the same mixture of one mol of butene, three mols of steam and one mol of oxygen under a total pressure greater than atmospheric, for example, a total pressure of 15 or 20 inches mercury above atmospheric. Thus, when the total pressure on the reaction zone is greater than one atmosphere, the absolute values for the pressure of butene will be increased in direct proportion to the increase in total pressure above one atmosphere. Another feature of'this invention is that the combined partial pressure of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated plus the iodine liberating material will also be equivalent to less than 10 inches of mercury, and preferably less than 6 or 4 inches of mercury, at a total pressure of one atmosphere. The lower limit of hydrocarbon partial pressure will be die-- tated by commercial considerations and practically will be greater than about 0.1 inch mercury.

The minimum amount of oxygen used generally will be from about one-fourth mol of oxygen per mol of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated to about two mols or more of oxygen per mol of hydrocarbon; as much as 5 mols have been employed. Optimum selectivity has been obtained when amounts of oxygen from about 0.25 to about one mol of oxygen per mol of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated were employed. High conversions have been obtained when the amount of oxygen was varied from about 0.75 to about 1.75 mols of oxygen per mol of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated. Maximum yields of unsaturated hydrocarbon product have been obtained with amounts of oxygen from about 0.4 to about 1.25 mols of oxygen per mol, of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated, so that within the range of 0.25 to 1.75 mols of oxygen per mol of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated, economic and operational considerations will dictate the exact molar ratio of hydrocarbon to oxygen used. A particularly useful range is from about one-half to one mol of oxygen per mol of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated. Oxygen is supplied to the system as pure oxygen or may be diluted with inert gases such as helium, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. Air is an excellent source of oxygen for the process. In relation to iodine, the amount of oxygen employed preferably will be greater than two gram mols of oxygen per gram mol of iodine and normally will be greater than four gram mols of oxygen per gram mole of iodine. Usually, the ratio of the mols of oxygen to the mols of iodine will be from 5 or 8 to 500 and preferably will be between 15 and 300 mols of oxygen per mole of iodine.

Iodine employed in the process of this invention may be iodine itself, hydrogen iodide, or other inorganic iodides, organic iodides or any iodine containing compound which decomposes under the reaction conditions defined herein to provide free iodine or hydrogen iodide. Generally,;the iodine compounds will have a boiling or decomposition point of less than 400 C. Such organic iodine compounds may include aliphatic iodides includng alkyl iodides such as methyl iodide, ethyl iodide, propyl iodide, butyl iodide, amyl iodide, hexyl iodide, octyl iodide, iodoform, and the like. Both primary, secondary and tertiary alkyl iodides may be employed. Similarly, aromatic and heterocyclic iodides may be employed, for example, phenyl' iodide, benzyl iodide, cyclohexyl iodide, and the like. Additional iodine compounds are iodohydrins such as ethylene iodohydrin; ammonium iodide; iodo substituted aliphatic acids such as iodoacetic acid; organic amine iodide salts of the general formula R N'HI Wherein R is a hydrocarbon radical containing from 1 to 8 carbonatoms such as methyl amine hydroiodide; volatile metal iodides such A11 a volatile metalloid iodides such as AsI and other iodine compounds such as SI SI S01 10 I 0 CHI C1 and the like. Preferred among the organic iodides are the alkyl iodides of 1 to 6 carbon atoms. Preferred are iodine, ammonium iodide, and/ or hydrogen iodide. It is an advantage of this invention that hydrogen iodide may be employed as the iodine source, with one advantage being that the hydrogen iodide in the efiluent from the reactor may be fed directly back to contact the hydrocarbons in the dehydrogenation reactor Without any necessity of converting the hydrogen iodide to iodine. It is understood that when a quantity of iodine is referred to herein, both in the specification and the claims, that this refers to the calculated quantity of iodine in all forms present in the vapor space under the conditions of'reaction regardless of'the initial source or the form in which the iodine is present. For example, a reference to 0.05 mol of iodine would refer to the quanity of iodine present whether the iodine was fed as 0.05 mol ofI or 0.10-rnol'of HI.

The iodineconcentration normally will be varied from at least about 0.001 mol, such as at least 0.0001 mol, to about 0.2 mol of iodine per mol of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated. It is preferred to use less than 0.1 mol of iodine per mol of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated. Amounts of iodine between 0.005 and 0.08 or 0.09 mol of iodine per mol of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated are preferred. A suitable ratio is between about 0.01 and 0.05 mol of iodine per mole of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated. -It is one of the advantages of this invention that in accordance with the defined process, very small amounts of iodine may be used in the dehydrogenation of aliphatic hydrocarbons as compared to prior art processes. Preferably, the iodine will be present in an amount no greater than 5 to 10 mol percent of the total feed to the dehydrogenation zone.

Hydrocarbons to be dehydrogenated according to the process of this invention are aliphatic hydrocarbons of 2 to 12 carbon atoms and preferably are selected from the group consisting of saturated hydrocarbons, and of monoolefins or diolefins and mixtures thereof of 4 to 6 carbon atoms. Examples of feed materials are butene-l, cis-butene-2, trans-butene-Z, 2-methyl butene-3, 2-methyl butene-l, Z-methyl butene-2, n-butane, isobutane, butadiene- 1,3, methyl butane, Z-methyl pentene-l, Z-methyl pentene- 2, ethane, propane, ethylene, propylene, cyclohexane, ethyl benzene, and mixtures thereof. For example, n-butane may be converted to a mixture of butene-l and butene-Z or may be converted to a mixture of butene-l, butene-2 and/or butadiene-l,3 and vinyl acetylene. A mixture of n-butane and butene-.2 may be converted to butadiene-l,3 or a mixture of butadiene-l,3 together with some butene-Z and butene-l. n-Butane, butene-l, butene-2 or butadiene- 1,3 or mixtures thereof may be converted to vinyl acetylene. Ethyl benzene may be converted to styrene. Cyclohexane may be converted to cyclohexene. Thus, the invention is particularly suitable for the conversion of aliphatic hydrocarbons, cycloaliphatic hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons. Generally, the feed will contain at least one group, such as a CH2C1H group. The reaction temperature for the production of vinyl acetylene is normally within the range of about 600 C. to 1000 C., such as between 650 C. and 850 C. Isobutanemay be converted to isobutylene. The Z-methyl butenes such as Z-methyl butene-l may be converted to isoprene. Excellent starting materials are the four carbon hydrocarbons such as b-utene-l, cis or trans butene-2, n-butane, and butadiene-1,3 and mixtures thereof. The preferred feeds will contain a straight carbon chain of at least four carbon atoms. Useful feeds as starting materials may be mixed hydrocarbon streams such as refinery streams. For example, the feed material may be the olefincontaining hydrocarbon mixture obtained as the product from the dehydrogenation of hydrocarbons. Another source of feed for the present process is from refinery byproducts. For example, in the production of gasoline from higher hydrocarbons by either thermal or catalytic cracking, a predominantly hydrocarbon stream containing predominantly hydrocarbons of four carbon atoms may be produced and may comprise a mixture of butenes together with butadiene, butane, isobutane, isobutylene and other ingredients in minor amounts. These and other refinery by-products which contain normal ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbons are useful as starting materials. Another source of feedstock is the product from the dehydrogenation of butane to butenes employing the Houdry Process. Although various mixtures of hydrocarbons are useful, the preferred hydrocarbon feed contains at least 50 weight percent butene-l, butene-2, n-butane and/or butadiene-l,3, and mixtures thereof, and more preferably contains at least 70 percent n-butane, butene-l, butene-Z and/ or butadiene-l,3 and mixtures thereof. Any remainder usually will be aliphatic hydrocarbons. The process of this invention is particularly effective in dehydrogenating aliphatic hydrocarbons to provide a product wherein the major unsaturated product has the same number of carbon atoms as the feed hydrocarbon. 5 In the above descriptions of catalyst compositions, the

composition described is that of the surface which is exposed in the dehydrogenation zone to the reactants. That is, if a catalyst carrier is used, the composition described as the catalyst refers to the composition of the surface and not to the total composition of the surface coating plus carrier. The catalytic compositions are intimate combinations or mixtures of the ingredients. These ingredients may or may not be chemically combined or alloyed. Inert catalyst binding agents or fillers may be used, but these 15 will not ordinarily exceed about 50 percent or 65 percent by weight of the catalytic surface. The weight percent of the cobalt atoms will generally be at least percent, and preferably at least 35 percent of the composition of the catalyst surface exposed to the reaction gases.

The amount of solid catalyst utilized may be varied depending upon such variables as the activity of the catalyst, the amount of iodine and oxygen used, the flow rates of reactants and the temperature of reaction. The amount of catalyst will be present in an amount of greater than 10 square feet of catalyst surface per cubic foot of reaction zone containing catalyst. Generally, the ratios will be at least 25 or 40 square feet of catalyst surface per cubic foot of reaction zone. The catalyst is more effectively utilized when the catalyst is present in an amount of at least 75 square feet of catalyst surface per cubic foot of reaction zone containing catalyst, and preferably the ratio of catalyst surface to volume will be at least 120 square feet of catalyst surface per cubic foot of reaction zone containing catalyst. Of course, the amount of catalyst surface may be much greater when irregular surface catalysts are used.

When the catalyst is in the form of particles, either sup-- ported or unsupported, the amount of catalyst surface may be expressed in terms of the surface area per unit weight of any particular volume of catalyst particles. The

ratio of catalytic surface to weight will be dependent upon various factors including the particle size, particle distribution, apparent bulk density of the particles, amount of active catalyst coated on the carrier, density of the carrier, and so forth. Typical values for the surface to weight ratio are such as about /2 to 200 square meters per gram although higher and lower values may be used.

Excellent results have been obtained by packing the reactor with catalyst particles as the method of introducing the catalytic surface. The size of the catalyst particles may vary widely but generally the maximum particle size will at least pass through a Tyler Standard Screen which has an opening of two inches, and generally the largest particles of catalyst will pass through a Tyler Screen with one inch openings. Very small particle size carriers may be utilized with the only practical objection being that extremely small particles cause excessive pressure drops across the reactor. In order to avoid high pressure drops across the reactor generally at least 50 percent by weight of the catalyst will be retained by a 10 mesh Tyler Standard Screen which has openings of inch. However, if a fluid bed reactor is utilized, catalyst particles may be quite small, such as from about 10 to 300 microns. Thus, the particle size when particles are used preferably will be from about 10 microns to a particle size which will pass through a Tyler Screen with openings of two inches. 'If a carrier is used, the catalyst may be deposited on the carrier by methods known in the art such as by preparing an aqueous solution or dispersion of the catalytic material, mixing the carrier with the solution or dispersion until the active ingredients are coated on the carrier. The coated particles may then be dried, for example, in an oven at 1 As measured by the lanes nitrogen absorption method on a representative unit volume of catalyst particles. The Innes method is reported in Innes, W. B., Anal. Chem. 23, 759 (1951).

about 110 C. Various other methods of catalyst preparation known to those skilled in the art may be used. When carriers are utilized, these will be approximately of the same size as the final coated catalyst particle, that is, for fixed bed processes the carriers will generally be retained on 10 mesh Tyler Screen and will pass through a Tyler Screen with openings of two inches. Very useful carriers are Alundum, silicon carbide, Carborundum, pumice, kieselguhr, asbestos, and the like. The Alundums or other alumina carriers are particularly useful. When carriers are used, the amount of catalyst on the carrier will generally be in the range of about to 75 weight percent of the total weight of the active catalytic material plus carrier. The carriers may be of a variety of shapes, including irregular shapes, cylinders or spheres. Another method for introducing the required surface is to utilize as a reactor a small diameter tube wherein the tube Wall is catalytic or is coated with catalytic material. If the tube wall is the only source of catalyst, generally the tube will be of an internal diameter of not greater than one inch, such as less than inch in diameter, or preferably will be no greater than about /2 inch in diameter. Other methods may be utilized to introduce the catalytic surface such as by the use of rods, wires, mesh or shreds and the like of catalytic material. The technique of utilizing fluid beds lends iiself well to the process of this invention.

The temperature at which the reaction is conducted is from above 400 C. or 450 C. to temperatures as high as 800 C. or 1000 C. or higher. Excellent results are ordinarily obtained within the range of about 425 C. to about 800 C. or 850 C. Butadiene-l,3 has been obtained in good yields from butene at about 550 C. to about 750 C., and isoprene has been obtained in good yield from methyl butene at temperatures from about 425 C. to 5 50 C. or 625 C. When vinyl acetylene is desired from butane, butene-l, butene-2, butadiene-1,3, and mixtures thereof, the temperatures preferably will be above 600 C., such as above 650 C. The temperatures are measured at the maximum temperature in the reactor. An advantage of this invention is the extremely wide latitude of reaction temperatures.

The flow rates of the gaseous reactants may be varied quite widely and can be readily established by those skilled in the art. Good results have been obtained with flow rates of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated ranging from about one-fourth to three or higher liquid volumes of hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated per volume of reactor containing catalyst per hour. Generally, the flow rates will be within the range of about 0.10 to 25 or higher liquid volumes of the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated, calculated at standard conditions of 25 C. to 760 mm. of mercury per volume of reactor space containing catalyst per hour (referred to as either LHSV or liquid v./v./hr.). Usually the LHSV will be between 0.15 and 15. The volume of reactor containing catalyst is that volume of reactor space excluding the volume displaced by the catalyst. For example, if a reactor has a particular volume of cubic feet of void space, when that void space is filled with catalyst particles, the original void space is the volume ofreactor containing catalyst for the purpose of calculating the flow rates. The residence or contact time of the reactants in the reaction zone under any given set of reaction conditions depends upon all the factors involved in the reaction. Contact times ranging from about 0.1 to about 5 to seconds have been found to be satisfactory. However, a wider range of residence times may be employed which may be as low as about 0.001 to 0.01 sec 0nd to as long as several minutes, as high as about 3 minutes, although such long reaction times are not preferred. Normally, the shortest contact time consonant with optimum yields and operating conditions is desired. Residence time is the calculated dwell time of the reaction mixture in the reaction zone assuming the mols of product mixture are equivalent to the mols of feed mixture. For

the purpose of calculation of residence times, the reaction zone is the portion of the reactor packed with the catalyst.

A variety of reactor types may be employed. For example, tubular reactors may be employed. Conventional reactors for the production of unsaturated hydrocarbons are satisfactory. Large diameter reactors will require loading with an active material to provide the required surface. Fixed bed reactors containing the catalysts in the form of grids, screens, pellets, with or without supports and the like may also be used. In any of these reactors suitable means for heat control should be provided. Fluid and moving bed systems are readily applied to the processes of this invention.

The manner of mixing the-iodine or iodine compound, the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated, oxygen, and steam, if employed, is subject to some choice. In normal operations the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated may be preheated and mixed with steam and preheated oxygen or air and iodine or hydrogen iodide are mixed therewith prior to passing the stream in vapor phase over the catalyst bed. Hydrogen iodide or a source of iodine may be dissolved in water and may be mixed with steam or air prior to reaction. Any of the reactants may be split and added incrementally. For example, part of the iodine may be mixed with the hydrocarbon to be dehydrogenated and the oxygen. The mixture may then be heated to effect some dehydrogenation and thereafter the remainder of the iodine added to effect further dehydrogenation. The reactor may be of any type. The efiluent reaction product from the reactor is cooled and then passed to means for removing iodine such as in a caustic scrubber. The hydrocarbon product is then suitably purified as by fractionation to obtain the desired high purity unsaturated product. The efiluent reaction product from the reactor may be cooled and then passed to means for removing hydrogen iodide which normally will represent much of the iodine present during the course of the reaction, and the hydrocarbon product may then be suitably purified as by fractionation to obtain the desired high purity unsaturated hydrocarbon.

According to this invention, the catalyst is autoregenerative and thus the process is continuous. Little or no energy input is required for the process and it may be operated essentially adiabatically. Moreover, small amounts of tars and polymers are formed as compared to prior art processes suggesting the use of large amounts of iodine.

In the following examples will be found specific embodiments of the invention and details employed in the practice of the invention. Percent conversion refers to the mols of olefin consumed per 100 mols of olefin fed to the reactor, percent selectivity represents themols of diolefin formed per 100 mols of olefin consumed, and percent yield refers to the. mols of diolefin formed per mol of olefin fed. All quantitiesof iodine expressed are calculated as mols of I Example 1 A Vycor reactor which is filled Vycor 2 raschig rings having deposited thereon cobalt oxide is heated by means of an external electric furnace. At a 700 C. furnace temperature, a butene-2 flow rate is maintained at 1 liquid v./v./hr., mixed with oxygen and steam at mol ratios of butene to steam to oxygen of 1 to 16 to 0.85. Hydrogen iodide is added as concentrated 47 percent acid at 3.75 cubic centimeters per hour which is equivalent to 0.017 mol of iodine per mol of butene-2. When the reactor is filled with clean Vycor raschig rings and operated as described, a yield of butadiene-1,3 of 24 percent is obtained. When this reaction is repeated in the absence of hydrogen iodide, the yield of butadiene obtained is 18 percent. The reactor is then filled with Vycor raschig rings having deposited thereon the cobalt oxide. The results obtained are reported as mol percent conversion,

The Vycor in this and the following examples is a percent silica glass.

selectivity and yield of butadiene l,3 per pass. The conversion is 88, the selectivity is 82, and the yield is 72.

Example 2 A inch O.D. coiled quartz reactor coated with cobalt as a catalyst is utilized for the dehydrogenation of 2-methyl butene-2. The flow rate is 0.5 liquid hourly space velocity (LHSV). Foreach mol of Z-methyl butene- 2, 10 mols of steam, 1.0 mol of oxygen and 0.04 mol of iodine are utilized. At a reactor temperature of 525 C. the selectivity to isoprene is 82 percent.

Example 3 A mixture of 50 mol percent butene-2 and 50 mol percent n-butane is dehydrogenated to butene and butadiene-1,3 with a cobalt phosphide catalyst coated on a carrier. Oxygen is utilized in an amount of 0.8 mol per mol of the combined hydrocarbon. Iodine is fed as ammonium iodide in a ratio of 0.04 mol of NH I per mol of the combined hydrocarbon. A vacuum of 4" is main tained. At a reactor temperature of 575 C. and at an LHSV of 0.25 the hydrocarbon mixture is converted at a conversion of greater than 80 percent.

Example 4 A catalyst of CoCl is employed to dehydrogenate cyclohexane to cyclohexene. The cyclohexane is fed at a rate of .30 LHSV through a packed reactor at a reactor temperature of 550-625 C. together with 1.2 mols of oxygen and .05 mol of I per mol of cyclohexane. Four mols of nitrogen are fed per mol of cyclohexane. The conversion is greater than 75 percent,

Example 5 A cobalt silicide catalyst is used to dehydrogenate ethane to a mixture of ethylene and acetylene at a reactor temperature of 700 C. Steam is fed at a rate of 12 mols per mol of ethane. Methyl iodide and oxygen are fed at rates of .03 (calculated as I and 1.0 mol respectively per mol of ethane. A mixture of ethylene and acetylene is obtained.

From the foregoing description of the invention, it will be seen that a novel and greatly improved process for producing unsaturated hydrocarbons is provided. Other examples could be devised for a process whereby the catalyst contained the described elements; preferably with the cobalt constituting greater than or at least fifty atomic weight percent of any cations in the surface exposed to the reaction gases. Thus, the main active constituent will be cobalt. Catalysts which consist essentially of cobalt as the active metal component give excellent results. Although representative embodiments of the invention have been specifically described, it is not intended or desired that the invention be limited solely thereto since it will 10 be apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications and variations may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. The method for preparing aliphatic diolefins which comprises heating in the vapor phase at a temperature in the range of about 400 C. to about 800 C. a monoolefinic hydrocarbon containing 4 to 6 carbon atoms with oxygen in a molar ratio of about one-fourth to about two mols of oxygen per mol of mono-olefin, an iodine liberating material in amount greater than 0.001 mol of iodine per mol of mono-olefin, the partial pressure of said mono-olefin being less than about 20 inches mercury, in the presence of a material selected from the group consisting of cobalt metal, inorganic cobalt salts, cobalt oxide and mixtures thereof, the ratio of the amount of said oxygen being greater than 1 mol per atom of said iodine.

2. The method for preparing butadiene-1,3 and isoprene which comprises heating in the vapor phase at a temperture in the range of about 425 C. to 750 C. a monoolefin selected from the group consisting of butene and methyl butene with oxygen in a molar ratio of about 0.4 to about 1.25 mol of oxygen per mol of mono-olefin, iodine in a molar ratio of about 0.005 to 0.1 mol of iodine per mol of mono-olefin, the partial pressure of said mono-olefin being less than 15 inches mercury, in the presence of cobalt oxide, the ratio of the amount of said oxygen being greater than 1 mol per atom of said iodine.

3. The method for preparing aliphatic diolefins which comprises heating in the vapor phase at a temperature of about 400 C. to about 800 C. a mono-ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon of 4 to 6 carbon atoms With oxygen in a molar ratio of above about one-fourth mol of oxygen per mol of said unsaturated hydrocarbon, greater than 0.001 mol of iodine per mol of said unsaturated hydrocarbon, the initial pressure of said unsaturated hydrocarbon being equivalent to less than onethird atmosphere at one atmosphere total pressure, with a catalyst comprising a material selected from the group consisting of cobalt, cobalt oxide, cobalt salts and mixtures thereof, the ratio of the mols of said oxygen to the mols of said iodine being greater than two.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,205,280 9/1965 Wattimena et al 260680 3,207,805 9/1965 Gay 260-680 2,719,171 9/1955 Kalb 260669 X 3,080,435 3/1963 Nager 260683.3 X 3,130,241 4/1964 Baijle et a1. 260680 X PAUL M. COUGHLAN, JR., Primary Examiner. 

1. THE METHOD FOR PREPARING ALIPHATIC DIOLEFINS WHICH COMPRISES HEATING IN THE VAPOR PHASE AT A TEMPERATURE IN THE RANGE OF ABOUT 400*C. TO ABOUT 800*C. A MONOOLEFINIC HYDROCARBON CONTAINING 4 TO 6 CARBON ATOMS WITH OXYGEN IN A MOLAR RATIO OF ABOUT ONE-FOURTH TO ABOUT TWO MOLS OF OXYGEN PER MOL OF MONO-OLEFIN AN IODINE LIBERATING MATERIAL IN AMOUNT GREATER THAN 0.001 MOL OF IODINE PER MOL OF MONO-OLEFIN, THE PARTIAL PRESSURE OF SAID MONO-OLEFIN BEING LESS THAN ABOUT 20 INCHES MERACURY. IN THE PRESENCE OF A MATERIAL SELECTED FROM THE GROUP CONSISTING OF COBALT METAL, INORGANIC COBALT SALTS, COBALT OXIDE AND MIXTURES THEREOF, THE RATIO OF THE AMOUNT OF SAID OXYGEN BEING GREATER THAN 1 MOL PER ATOM OF SAID IODINE. 